Direct investment in solidarity companies is growing

Gaëlle Désorme doesn’t do things by halves. Alongside her Livret A and her Sustainable and Solidarity Development Booklet (LDDS), the forty-year-old who lives in Drôme has been investing in solidarity structures for around fifteen years: La Nef, Terre de liens, a handful of cooperatives in the food sector and, in July, Villages vivants, which buys premises in rural areas to open businesses (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.). “I became a member, which allows me to participate in decisions by voting at general meetings, this is important for me, because I want my savings to have a concrete impact”she specifies.

Gaëlle Désorme does not expect financial performance from her investment, since veritable Living Villages does not pay a return, and the share is not revalued. “But I benefit from a tax reduction, which is obviously a boost”, she admits. It is not the only one to take this path: solidarity companies collected 991 million euros in 2022, a figure up 9%, mainly thanks to a few large structures such as Habitat et Humanisme, France active, Solifap or Land of links.

“Direct investment with solidarity companies is developing thanks, in particular, to the rise of crowdfunding platforms specializing in sustainable investment such as LITA.co or MiiMOSA, which also makes it possible to better reach younger generations »notes Patrick Sapy, the general director of the FAIR association.

A sentiment shared by Lin-Na Zhang, communications director of LITA.co: “Our investors are on average between 35 and 40 years old. These are both people very committed to the social and solidarity economy, for whom financial return is not the priority, but also savers from all backgrounds looking for sustainable investments in a diversification approach. . »

Depending on the case, they subscribe to equity securities (unlisted shares, shares, equity securities) or bonds. “The risk taken depends on the type of investment and the activity of the impact structure: the actions of a start-up are, by nature, more risky than the social parts of a solidarity real estate company whose activity consists to real estate »continues Lin-Na Zhang.

“Our members want their money to be useful”

Many real estate companies are, in fact, making a public appeal for savings. This is the case of Habitat et Humanisme, which raises 20 million euros by and from individuals and institutional investors. It buys or builds housing for people in precarious situations. Its shares do not pay a return, but are revalued at 0.50% per year over the long term. Same principle for FEVE (purchase of farms to rent to farmers), which collected 10 million euros in two years, including 9 million euros from the general public.

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